PRISON bosses are demanding government action over violence, suicide and self-harm in jails, warning current levels are “the worst we have ever seen.”

The government must cut inmate numbers because jails across England and Wales are “full to bursting,” according to Prison Governors’ Association (PGA) president Andrea Albutt.

She will tell PGA delegates at its annual conference today in Derby that staffing levels have reached a critical stage in many cases, leaving prisons unable to cope.